Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s6.t3: C. — Ligatures

Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s6.t3

Language: English

C. — Ligatures

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(1) *Bhye* (38, IX), *mma* (38, XII) and *mya* (38, XII, *b*) show no changes or only very slight ones in the combined letters. In other cases, one or the other is usually mutilated.

(2) For *ra*, which must be pronounced sometimes before and sometimes after its *mātṛkā* (exception in *rṭa* in Mansehra edict V, l. 24), appears, besides slightly mutilated forms (in *rṭi*, 38, IV, and *rva*, 39, I), (a) a slanting line, with or without a bend, which goes through the middle of the vertical of the combined consonant (as in *gra*, 38, I; *rṭa*, 38, II; *rṭi*, 38, III); (b) also a curved or straight stroke at the foot of the combined sign (*rti*, 38, V; *kra*, 6, V; *gra*, 8, V; *tra*, 20, V; *dhra*, 23, V; 38, VIII; *pru*, 25, V; *bra*, 27, V; *vram*, 33, V; *śru*, 34, V; *stri*, 39, VIII, IX). In combination with *ma*, the *ra*-stroke stands invariably at the right top, as in *mru* (29, V), and in *kra* and *bhra* (28, V), occasionally at the right end of the hooks of those letters. Sometimes, especially in Mansehra, a curve open above, as in *thra* (21, IV), is substituted for the straight stroke. The stroke and the curves, of course, are cursive substitutes for a full *ra*, attached to the foot of the combined consonants.

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(3) In *vru* (39, II) the two consonants have been pushed the one into the other, so that the vertical does duty both for the *va* and the *ra*. The same principle is followed in the formation of the ligature *sta* (which consists only in Shāhbāzgarhī edict I, l. 2, *srestamati*, of *sa* with a *ta* hooked into the vertical, 39, IV). At the same time *sa* is mutilated, the middle of its top remaining open and the hook on the left being omitted. This is clearly visible in *sti* (39, V) and *stri* (39, IX), while *sta* (39, III), *sti* (39, VI), *stu* (39, VII), and *stri* (39, VIII) are made more negligently. The ligature of *sa* and *pa* is formed according to [28] the same principles, but the *sa* is mutilated still more and merely indicated by a little hook at the top of the vertical of *pa* in *spa* (39, X) and *spi* (39, XII).¹ In *spa* (39, XI) the hook stands on the side-limb of *pa*.

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¹ O. Franke, Nachr. Gött. Ges. d. Wiss., 1895, 540, and ZDMG. 50, 603, proposes to read *fa* and *fi* for the signs which I read *spa* and *spi*.

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(4) The ligature in 38, VII, seems to have two different meanings. In Shāhbāzgarhī edict X, l. 21, the sign appears in the representative of the Sanskrit *tadātvāya*, which in the dialect of the Aśoka edicts might be either *tadatvaye* or *tadattaye*, and in Mansehra it occurs frequently in the representative of the Sanskrit *ātman*. As the Kuṣana inscriptions offer a similar sign (31, XIII) in the representative of the Sanskrit *satvānām*, we have probably to read *tva* in Shāhbāzgarhī edict X, l. 21, and to assume that the curve at the foot of *ta* represents a *va*, just as it stands in *thra* (21, IV) for the similar *ra*. This explanation is confirmed by the ligatures 30, XIII, and 37, XIII, which most probably are equivalent to *śva* (*iśvara*) and *sva* (*visharasvamini*). In Mansehra (especially edict XII) the sign 38, VII, has to be read *tma*.²

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² The MS. of the Dhammapada shews this same sign both in the terminations of the absolutives in *tva* (*tvā*) and in atma (*ātman*), and thus further confirms the explanation proposed.

Cites (2)

Dhammapada — Pāli
Mansehra